1. Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Dartmouth Medical School, Hanover, New Hampshire 03755, USA
2. †Present address: Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, 3400 Spruce Street, 6 Founders, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104, USA
3. *These authors contributed equally to this work

Correspondence to: Ronald K. Taylor¹ Correspondence and requests for materials should be addressed to R.K.T. (Email: Ronald.K.Taylor@dartmouth.edu).

Abstract

Many bacteria that cause diseases must be able to survive inside and outside the host. Attachment to and colonization of abiotic or biotic surfaces is a common mechanism by which various microorganisms enhance their ability to survive in diverse environments¹. Vibrio cholerae is a Gram-negative aquatic bacillus that is often found in the environment attached to the chitinous exoskeletons of zooplankton^{2, 3}. It has been suggested that attachment to zooplankton enhances environmental survival of Vibrio spp., probably by providing both an abundant source of carbon and nitrogen and protection from numerous environmental challenges⁴. On ingestion by humans, some serogroups of V. cholerae cause the diarrhoeal disease cholera⁵. The pathophysiology of cholera is a result of the effects of cholera toxin on intestinal epithelial cells. For sufficient quantities of cholera toxin to reach the intestinal epithelium and to produce clinical symptoms, colonization of the small bowel must occur. Because most V. cholerae do not colonize humans, but all probably require strategies for survival in the environment, we considered that colonization factors selected for in the environment may be the same as those required for intestinal colonization of humans. In support of this hypothesis, here we have identified a single protein required for efficient intestinal colonization that mediates attachment to both zooplankton and human epithelial cells by binding to a sugar present on both surfaces.

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